Seeking the Olympians
by SephCurrentDaughterofPoseidon
Summary: This is the story of Matt Andrews and his journey through the U.S.A. after Olympus fell. New and unimaginable monsters will show up, not to mention his friend Claire Wilson, and a couple of other characters not seen before. Go with them to a Greece in ruins to see them attempt to open the doors of death so the gods can escape Tartarus and take Olympus back. Sequel to "Seeking Hades
1. Chapter 1

**MATT:**

_(Six months since Olympus fell)_

Matt stopped his car in the old parking lot of what looked to be a Kohl's store. He needed a few supplies and there was a mall nearby, he was sure of it.

As he got up, he made sure the hood of his cloak completely covered his face. He was glad that it was insulated, because the December wind was frigid. Cloaks weren't uncommon in the post-apocalyptic world, especially for demigods. The mist no longer worked and celestial bronze killed everything, and it needed to. If anyone saw the weapons, he would become an immediate target.

He walked down the street a hundred or so yards away from the grey Chevy Impala that he had taken from a used dealership a while back. His eyes moved to look around all of the buildings as he searched for a few supplies. Seeing a Walmart, he decided to look there. It was a short five minute walk, and he was sure that the store wasn't safe. He wryly wondered what Claire would say about him doing this. Probably something along the lines of calling him an idiot and begging him to be careful... that was what she would normally do.

He hadn't seen his brown haired, blue eyed companion in six months at least. He wondered where she was and if she was okay. He hoped she was. As he got to the Walmart, he forced himself out of thinking mode and into working mode.

The glass on the door was shattered and the metal frame around it was warped and bent, as though a huge crowd was running into it. It wouldn't surprise him, people were running everywhere after Olympus went down and the monsters and Tyrants came out to play. As he walked inside, he made sure to keep his hood over his face, knowing that he was wanted by the Tyrants for just being a demigod, but there were other reasons as well. Namely Oliver Evans.

Matt had been searching for him and Claire for five months or so, causing quite a bit of trouble for everyone on the opposing side, hopefully all the way up to that dark haired bitch that he didn't know the name of... it started with an E if he wasn't mistaken.

He was careful to soften the noise of his footsteps was he walked around, he wasn't particularly keen on company this early in the morning, especially when he hadn't had any sleep, he had been driving all night, trying to get as far away from the last place he stopped at. Near death experiences seemed to have that effect on him, so he'd been moving a lot over the past few months. His ears strained as he looked for anything that might potentially be a problem. He saw the home and garden supplies in a mess at the back corner, corner and he was pretty sure that what he was looking for was there.

He began walking toward it, his eyes roaming over the heaps of clothing, the isles that had been knocked over, and the stains that scattered the filthy tiled floor. Most of them were a reddish brown; Matt knew exactly what that was, and his blood wasn't about to join the collection.

"HEELL-" the cry was cut off by a loud and bloodcurdling scream all of it coming from the back of the store.

Matt didn't even hesitate, he bounded off into the direction of the noise, his cloak flying behind him. He pulled his sword out of his scabbard just as he stopped at the back wall. He saw a short blonde woman being cut down by the large nails of one of the monsters that he didn't want to meet. Matt pulled a knife out of his pocket and flung it forward, it buried itself deep into the creature's neck and it fell to the ground with a wail, completely dead. Running over, he saw that the woman was convulsing. It was too late.

"My... daughter," she said with difficulty, he voice raspy and it was obvious she couldn't breathe. "Please... baby depart..." she trailed off and released her final breath.

Matt blinked and cursed violently. What was he supposed to do? The kid was probably gone anyway. He looked over at the dead creature in disgust. It used to be human. Its body was warped and hunched over, the bones on it's spine were sticking out sharply, puncturing holes in its shirt. Its fingers were jagged talons, its arms were large, and they were longer than what would be proportionate to its body. Its face was pointed and pinched, and contorted into a permanent scowl. Its fangs were showing and they were sharp jagged, made for tearing flesh. All of the flesh that was exposed was a very pale white because it couldn't go out in the sun.

Then he looked back at the woman, she was quite pretty, and quite young, her facial features showed hardship though. He saw her blonde hair already falling out and her form starting to bend. One hour tops and she wouldn't be remotely recognizable. Shaking his head, he brought his sword down, ending a problem before it started. He didn't need another zombie on his hands. Of course they weren't the normal zombies, nothing Greek was ever normal, but these things were hellish.

He grabbed his knife and walked away without even looking back. As terrible as it was, he didn't have time to feel bad, and if he started feeling, he would start hesitating. Hesitation meant death. He almost walked over to the home and garden supplies as washed his hands of the whole matter, but he knew he couldn't. Not when there was a kid in the store. A kid that just lost their mother, and probably didn't have a father to fall back on.

He looked around, keeping his eyes off of the pair of dead bodies on the floor. That was when he heard the sound of crying, and it wasn't from a very old child. It was to his right. Something else had obviously heard it too. He saw the zombie creeping toward it. Matt set off sprinting, but the creature was much closer.

"Hey!" he shouted, probably alerting the whole store full of the monsters that he was there. "Hey you son of a bitch, why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

It paused on its way to the wailing girl and looked at him, his head tilted to the side. That momentary pause was all he needed. He came forward with his sword, just as the creature jumped at him and sliced him across the torso. It stumbled back and Matt jumped forward again, dodging its large claws and gripping its face twisting it to the side until heard the snap of its neck. They were fast, but very stupid, which was a good thing.

Matt walked forward and saw a bundle of blankets, completely covering a small squirming bawling shape. Tentatively he moved the blanket and sighed as he looked down at what was under it.

The child was okay, but he certainly wasn't. She looked to be a little older than half a year. She stopped crying as soon as the blanket left her face, and she looked at him with wide and blue eyes. Matt had been through a lot in his lifetime, but he had never been as terrified as he was at that moment, just looking at the small baby. He would have to wait and get the other things later. Cold air started baring down on them and Matt saw the baby start shivering, she took a deep breath and Matt was willing to bet that she was about to cry. Before she could, he scooped her up and put her under his cloak against his chest her skin was icy cold and she began snuggled even closer. He heard a sigh and she relaxed. Matt rolled his eyes. He doubted she would like him so much if he didn't have the cloak. Then he remembered the woman lying dead on the floor at the back of the store: her mother. The thought made him clear his head and he whispered, "Everything's alright," to the baby that he couldn't even see at the moment.

He began walking toward the door when he looked down and saw a carseat. The girl would probably need it. He grabbed it and tightened his hold on his new-found companion. Swallowing back his uncertainty, he walked out of the door.

The cold wind bit into him and he found himself walking a bit faster to the car, cursing the fact that he parked it across the street. So much for being discreet.

**~SEEKINGTHEOLYMPIANS~**

Matt saw that a few of the zombies were starting to look out of their establishments from all around and that was never a good sign. He looked up and saw that the overcast was still set in place, of course. They could still come out, though it would irritate them. Matt wondered if their slow minds were considering going though discomfort for a bit of breakfast.

He wasn't on the menu.

When he made it to the car, he saw the perked up ears of his companion, Ace. A jet black lab was wagging his tale in obvious excitement as his master walked up. When he opened the front door, Ace sat down and looked at him expectantly. Matt just sat the car seat down and placed his finger on his lips, not wanting to draw any attention to himself, they liked noise, and he didn't want to be anymore alluring. Then he made a waving motion to the dog. Ace hopped into the back seat obediently, allowing Matt to haul the car seat into the passenger side of the car and sit the baby inside. Not having time for proper seatbelt safety, he buckled her down like he would a normal person before taking his cloak off and laying it over her for warmth.

Shutting the door quietly, he turned around and had enough time to duck down before a hand full of claws came at him. Matt brought his foot around and knocked the attacking zombie to the ground, kicking its jaw upward next and hearing the snap of it's neck.

He saw that the others were beginning to come out of their shelters. "Shit!" he cursed, running to the other side. He heard the sound of the baby bawling, and felt his already high stress levels go through the roof.

Opening his door he jumped in and heard the sound of Ace growling. He didn't know if it was at the baby or the monsters, but he didn't have time to ask questions. He started the car, put it in drive and mashed the accelerator, hitting ninety before they made it to the edge of the parking lot. He saw the hideous faces of the creatures and breathed in a sigh of relief. The baby had shut up and so had Ace.

As he made it onto the interstate, he looked over and saw that she was looking up at him with huge blue eyes. Her air was dark and all over the place. Unsure of what else to do, he forced a smile at her and turned the heat up.

He didn't slow down until he saw the sign "Welcome to California" he had places to be, and another prison to search.

A sudden and strange thought occurred to him as he looked down at the sleeping baby. "How in the name of Ares am I gonna take care of you?"

**CLAIRE:**

She looked tiredly around her prison cell. _Tiredly_ probably wasn't the right word for it, she felt beaten, broken, weak, weary... you name it. She hadn't eaten in week or more, and she had managed to stay hydrated enough to sustain life by the snow that was on her open window seal. She was surprised that she hadn't frozen to death yet.

Her cell was tiny, maybe five by five, it was filthy, and it smelled terrible from the other people who had died down there. The guards hadn't been gracious enough to take away the bodies. She grimaced as she looked down at the thin slip that she had on. The perverts had a lot of fun tell her to hand over her clothing in exchange for prison wear, giving her the excuse, 'You might escape using them.' All of them were grinning and laughing stupidly. Claire would never feel clean after all of them staring at her.

She closed her eyes and tried to get her mind off of the horrors she'd been through since the end of Olympus. Instead she thought of her friends and family, praying that they were okay, and silently wondering if they were searching for her. She wouldn't admit to herself that she wanted them to come and risk themselves for her, but she really did. She didn't know how much longer she would be able to take.

Her thoughts turned to Matt, who had been on her mind everyday. She had begun to give up hope on even him. She was pretty sure that if she had enough water left in her, she would have cried from the hopelessness of it all.

"Matt," she said, her voice raspy as she looked out the window, "where are you?"

**I promised myself that I would finish Electrifying Currents before I began another fic... yeah right. So I hope you enjoyed and give me some feedback... also, any ideas for the baby's name. I can't come up with a good one. Lol did anyone else imagine Matt with a daughter? I did!**

**Anyways, you know the drill! I own nothing and you're gonna review... right?**


	2. Chapter 2

**MATT:**

He'd found an unused house, free of terrifying inhabitants, and immediately put it to good used. The baby was sleeping next to him on the bed, curled on her side with a thumb jammed into her mouth.

She was chunky in the cute kind of way, and Matt wondered how she had managed to survive this long in such dire times. He was wide awake despite the fact that he'd been awake for nearly forty-eight hours straight. His mind wandered to Claire and he dearly hoped that she was okay. Normally he would have prayed but there was no point in praying when he knew exactly where all of the gods were and it wasn't in a place that they would be of any use to him.

Claire was the whole reason that he was on the west side of the country again. He would have rather of been on the east, no zombies over there, just an infestation of other monsters. He tortured the

information out one of the soldiers, not something that he was proud of remembering, but he had to sacrifice his conscious to save Claire settling down in the bed, turned toward the baby, who was admittedly adorable, and shut his eyes, determined to get at least a couple of hours of sleep.

He let his mind wander to the underworld, when he was on his first mission with Claire. Absently, he reached his hand up and ran it along the thick and jagged scars on his shoulder. He remembered Claire snapping at him when he told her that he was as good as dead. The quest flashed forwarded to the end, secretly his favorite memory. When he told her that he didn't want her meeting anyone else like him, she definitely proved that she didn't agree with him. That was the first and last time anyone had ever kissed him. He was pretty sure he wouldn't say no to a repeat.

His mind drifted off after a few minutes, peacefully dreaming of Claire...

**~SEEKINGTHEOLYMPIANS~**

_He was looking at Claire. She was in the corner of a small and damp cell. The smell was awful, and his dream self almost gagged. She looked at him and smiled, "Matt!"_

_Matt smiled back and said, "It's me, Claire."_

_She looked rough, her brown hair was matted and her skin was covered in dirt and mud. He'd never seen her eyes so dull before. Walking over to here he wrapped his arms around her and held her against him. She sat there limply for a moment, sighing. "I miss you,"_

_"I miss you too," Matt murmured. "I know where you are. I'm on my way to Camp Jupiter."_

_"Please hurry," she breathed. "I haven't seen a guard in over a week. I don't know what's going on."_

_"As soon as I wake up, I'm gone," he promised. "I'm almost there, half a day's drive when everything was normal, now its a few hours."_

_Claire looked at him and smiled. "I can't wait to see you again," she ran her fingers though his hair and murmured, "I'll give you a haircut when we get to safety."_

_Matt nodded and smiled yet again. "Sounds like a plan."_

_Claire started to fade, and he knew that he was waking up. "I'll see you today_!"

**~SEEKINKTHEOLYMPIANS~**

His eyes snapped open and he saw that it was getting light out. That meant that it was time to start moving. Seeing that the child was still asleep, he decided to look around and see if the house had anything of any use.

He slowly walked out of the room and out into the short hallway. It was just a small trailer, and this had most likely been in a bad neighborhood when the world was still up and running, but it was pretty okay now. The short hallway opened up into a living room with old and worn furniture. The closed storm door that led out into a small front yard was shut and locked, though if something wanted to get to him, he figured that they wouldn't be deterred by doors for very long. He slowly walked past the door and into the kitchen, careful to keep his ear opened for any signs of the small child being disturbed. The cold tile floor was unpleasant to him, but as he saw that canned goods in the already opened cupboards, he forgot all about his discomfort. Rushing forward, he grabbed a can, and then hesitantly put it back. After he got Claire he was coming back. This was a pretty good house, and they could rest there for a few days, he figured that Claire would need it to get back into a good enough state to travel.

He looked down the hallway that was on the far right of the kitchen, and saw an open door on the left side, which was a bedroom, and an indent that was most likely where the washing machine was supposed to go and another room at the back which was a master bedroom. He'd scoped the place out before stopping, but he didn't do a very thorough check, not with the small child with him, he was too afraid to leave her alone

As if thinking about her caused the small child to wake up, he heard whining come from the other room. Sighing quietly, he back to the small bedroom and inside, he saw the small girl squirming and as soon as Matt picked her up, she stopped crying. Of course she had to be a clingy baby. He sighed and rolled his eyes. He'd gone to the closest store before they came to the house and bought all kinds of baby supplies, along with food for her.

Ace was looking at him with his ears perked up and his head tilted to the side as if asking him if he had any idea what he was doing. The answer was no.

"Come on," Matt beckoned. "We need to get out of here."

Ace looked at him reproachfully, and Matt knew what the dog wanted. "I'll feed you in the car," he sighed, wondering how long it was going to be before he actually started understanding what he was trying to convey through barks.

Ace jumped up excitedly and walked out of the room with Matt and the girl, while wagging his tail quickly. They walked out of the house and onto the porch. The first thing that he noticed was that the sun was actually out. He smiled in relief; no zombies would be coming to get him anytime soon. His car was parked in front of the porch, for easy access. Walking down, he opened the back door first and gestured for Ace to jump in. The dog barked, and Matt frowned at him, putting his finger on his lips. He put his ears down and his tail stopped wagging. Matt took that as a sign that he knew that he was bad. He made a waving gesture and Ace jumped inside. Opening the passenger's side, he sat the baby down in the car. He grabbed the blanket that he'd thought about bringing, and covering the child with it. She looked up at him with a grin showing off two teeth. Matt managed a weak smile and shut the door.

He walked over to the other side and got in. He started the engine and put the car in drive. He was on the interstate in no time, heading to San Francisco.

**~SEEKINGTHEOLYMPIANS~**

It was a boring drive. And it seemed to take forever, which was the part that he hated most. He knew that Claire was out there and in trouble, and the only thing that he was doing about it was driving at a break-neck speed toward her, with a baby in the car that required him stopping every couple of hours to change because if he didn't she would start bawling and Ace would start whining. He had already fed Ace but as he got to the outskirts of the camp, he stopped the car, he filled his dish again. He placed the carseat in the back and looked at Ace. "Watch her," he murmured. He'd spoken to Ace before and the dog had shown that he understood. Matt hoped that it was one of those times.

As he slowly walked thought the remains of the camp, he couldn't recognize it. The entire camp had been turned upside down and nothing was the same, there was nothing to look at that would let him know where he was if he didn't know the location. Everything was dead… and completely empty. There was no sign of life anywhere, and Matt was praying that he wasn't just dreaming when Claire agreed with him that she was there.

There was only one building still standing, and he wasn't entirely sure that the specific building was even around when Camp Jupiter was still running. As he observed the tributes to Gaea (Would it be Terra?) and her sons on the side, he figured that it wasn't.

He slowly walked forward, worrying that it was a trap. There was no turning back, though; he had to get Claire back. He had come way too far to turn back and do nothing. As he got to the door, an awful smell hit him like a brick wall and he gagged. He knew that smell, it was the smell of a decaying body. Hesitantly, he turned the doorknob, and to his surprise, it was unlocked. Slowly opening the door he stepped inside and looked around.

He was inside of some prison. He saw immediately where the smell was coming from and almost keeled over. Everything inside was definitely dead, had been for a while. The smell was a thousand times worse, and as he kept looking he saw that the cells were filled with prisoners, all of them no longer breathing and some of them had clearly been longer than others.

Forcing back his nonexistent breakfast, he took another step forward, and covered his mouth and nose with his hand. He saw that the lines of cells went all the way down the room to the back. As he walked forward, checking the cells and grimacing at the carnage that was in each and every one of them, he felt more and more disheartened, and even more worried.

The room was smaller than he thought, which was a relief, and as he saw what was in the very back cell, his heart flooded with relief. She was unconscious, and hopefully just asleep. He looked down at the cell and saw the lock. But as he felt the metal and saw the hinges, he realized that it was about to fall apart. Why hadn't she tried to escape?

He figured he knew why. She had and they had had her in a higher security cell until she became too weak to fight back. Anger flared in him as he pulled his sword down and took out the hinges with surprising ease. He pulled the door out slightly and to the side so that the lock wasn't in the way and laid it down on the floor as gently as he could, not wanting to attract any creatures. Immediately he ran in and placed a hand on her bare shoulder, which was icy cold. He felt her pulse and saw that she was still alive, but barely. He took his cloak off and placed it over her, trying to warm her up desperately.

"What have these bastards done to you?" Matt breathed, picking her up tenderly and holding her close to him. He turned around and saw that one of the 'dead' guards on the ground by the door was moving, most likely changing. That was okay with Matt; he needed something to take his anger out on. He knew he needed to get her out of the cell and to some place warm, not to mention the small child that was still sitting in the car waiting on him. He looked around at the filth of the cell and the terrible smell that was emitting from every side and corner of the place. He walked forward, holding her close, and kicked the moving guard in the side of the head as far as he could, hoping to break his neck before anything bad happened. Stepping away from the other bodies, he quickly walked out of the room and out side into the frigid air. He shivered and looked down at his sleeping friend. She looked awful.

He made sure to walk in the sunniest areas of the camp, alert to the shadiest parts of the place, seeing a few malicious white eyes here and there. Thanking the fates that the day was bright. When he was halfway there, Claire started stirring, she opened her eyes and looked up at him questioningly. "Matt?" she questioned hoarsely. "Am I dreaming?"

"No," he whispered, "It's really me. I told you I would see you today."

She gave him a smile and he returned it in kind. "You're never leaving my sight again," he informed her as he got to the car and opened the passenger door. She nodded and closed her eyes, instantly falling back to sleep as he set her down. Not thinking about it, he leaned over and pressed a small kiss on her cheek. "I'm so sorry."

**~SEEKINGTHEOLYMPIANS~**

It was the most uneventful rescue mission in the history of rescue missions, and Matt didn't know what was up, all he knew was that he didn't like it. He stopped at the house that he was in again, and it was pitch black outside again. Glad that he had somehow managed to find an uninfected neighborhood, but luck was seriously on his side. He was a demigod; luck was never on his side. He didn't' question it though, not with all of the fragile company he had. Looking back at Ace, he murmured, "Stay." Before getting out and scoping out the house yet again. As he was walking out of the back bedroom, he saw a yellow flashlight sitting on the floor, just begging to be used. Grinning in satisfaction, he picked it up and walked out to the living room again and depositing the light onto the dusty couch and back outside. It was filthy enough to actually create a dusty explosion in the furniture.

He walked to the door and back outside. The baby and Claire were both asleep and Ace was looking at him with a wagging tail. Matt opened the back door and Ace jumped out, bounding up the porch and inside. Matt picked the baby up and walked inside. He deposited her sleeping form on the bed and walked back outside to get Claire. She was stirring again.

She looked up at him drowsily as he opened her door.

"How are you feeling?" Matt questioned.

"Like I was in prison for six months," she replied dryly, her voice still raspy.

Matt leaned in to pick her up, and Claire rolled her eyes. "I think I can still walk."

"That's nice," Matt replied, wrapping an arm around her waist, "You're a very optimistic person. I saw what you were staying in, if you try to walk in the next few days… I don't even know what I'm going to do to you… but I imagine I can think of something."

He lifted her up almost effortlessly due to her lack of weight. "I missed you," she said, ignoring his threat.

I paused in his walk up the steps for a moment as he looked down at her. He remembered the sleepless nights, just wondering if she was okay. He didn't really know what to say, so instead he kept walking and said, "Stop talking, and conserve your strength."

Claire sighed and turned slightly so that she was burying her face into his chest. "It's good to have you back."

Matt rolled his eyes and walked through the still opened door and over to the bedroom. Claire looked over to see where they were going, and her breath caught in her throat. "Who… what… where did-"

"Shh," Matt soothed, knowing that she was talking about the child. "Calm down, you don't want to wake her."

He sat her on the bed beside the child and walked back out the room to close the door. Looking behind him, he saw that Ace was at his heels. Matt shook his head and said, "You can eat tomorrow when it's safe enough to go out and get the food."

He let out a whine, but he walked back into the bedroom with Matt all the same.

"Where's the mother?" was Claire's first raspy question as he entered the room. He looked at her, feeling the normal amount of amusement that he did while talking to her. He looked a bit closer and saw that the look on her face matched her tone: she was jealous.

He didn't answer right away; instead he walked over and got to his knees beside her. The look in her eyes was what got him to answer. He didn't want her stressing herself out for no reason.

"Her mother's dead. She died yesterday as I was going into an abandoned Walmart. I heard her screaming and killed the zombie, who had gotten to her, but it was too late, it had already scratched her. As she was dying she told me to look in the baby department for her daughter," Matt said, he looked at her with a grim expression and saw that she had a strange look in her eyes that he couldn't quite understand.

He felt her hand over his and looked down slightly to look at the two of them twined together at the fingers. Her grip was weak, especially to him, so he decided to help her out and squeezed back. Taking both of their hand close to his face, he kissed hers softly and looked back down. "Do you have any injuries that I need to know about?"

She shook her head quietly and looked back over at the baby. "She's cute."

"I know," Matt replied.

"What's her name?" Claire questioned, taking her eyes off the baby and back over at Matt, her eyes looking at him with curiosity deep in the pits.

Matt blinked as he realized that he had been thinking of her as "The baby," or "The child," the whole time. "I…" he shook his head and sighed, "I really don't know."

"You haven't given the baby a name yet, Matt?" Claire demanded.

"Never really thought about it," the mercenary shrugged.

Claire rolled her eyes, and said, "You're hopeless."

"You love me for it," Matt shot back without thinking.

"I certainly did miss it," Claire remarked.

He didn't know what was going through his head as he leaned down toward her, "I missed you too," he whispered before his lips landed on hers lightly. They were soft and all around amazing. She smelled like dirt and death, but then under all of that was the smell that he missed the most. It was the Claire smell. She moved her lips in sync with his and brought her free arm up to wrap around his neck loosely, it was probably the best she could do. Not wanting to get her too worked up, he pulled away from her slowly and looked at her in her heavily lidded eyes.

She smiled at him as he arm fell limply to her side again. "Thank you."

"For the kiss?" Matt questioned.

"Well… yeah, since, you would have killed me for leaning up to do it," she rolled her eyes. "But for coming for me, even though it's been six months."

Matt blinked at her and smiled, he was about to reply when he heard a wail from beside he injured companion. He looked up and saw that the baby was awake.

"How about Alice?" Claire questioned.

Matt smirked, and wondered if she would be too keen on that name if he knew about the Alice that he knew back in the third grade. _Probably not,_ he thought wryly, _but it doesn't matter._ "Anything you want," he replied, looking over at the whining Alice with some amusement.

He sighed and got to his feet and walked around to grab the baby and started rocking her back and forth. Almost immediately, she calmed down and slow breathing followed. He looked over at Claire and saw that she was smiling at him.

"What?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Never knew you would be with kids," she replied simply.

Matt shrugged his shoulders, "I'm good at everything, remember?"

Claire shook her head, "No."

He rolled his eyes and admitted, "I didn't know I was good with them either, if you wanted to know the truth."

Is there something else bothering you?" Claire questioned.

"What do you mean?" Matt questioned.

"You're frowning," she replied.

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow yet again.

"Well more than you usually do," she relented.

"Getting you was just a bit too easy," he replied after a moment of careful thought. "I just don't know if I'm okay with something being so effortless."

"Is there something wrong with that?" Claire questioned.

Matt shook his head and set Alice back onto the bed. "Maybe it's because I'm a mercenary and I was never paid to do an easy job…."

"That's possible," Claire replied. Matt didn't answer; he just walked to the foot of the bed and sat down.

"Get some rest," he instructed, "I want to head east, I heard there's a small colony of people out there, and I want to get out of the west, it's a hellhole."

"No arguments there," Claire replied with a large yawn. "What about you?" she questioned suddenly. "Aren't you going to rest?"

"I will soon," he replied, "but I'm more worried about you right now so, go to sleep."

She nodded and within minutes he heard the sound of two people's heavy breathing. He looked down at Ace, who was still apparently stung about having to wait so long to eat. Matt just rolled his eyes and said, "You go to bed too."

**So, what did you think about chapter two? And yes, there is a reason why everything was so easy for him, because you know as well as I do, NOTHING is ever easy on my characters. It will come out sooner or later. I'm just wondering if anyone else knows why. Someone said that they think that the baby was a demigod… IDK… is she? **

**Lol Me updating this soon will probably never happen again.**


	3. Chapter 3

**MATT:**

When morning came, Matt hadn't slept a wink, but he ignored the fatigue and went outside to get Ace his promised food, not to mention some baby supplies and water for Claire. He left the room with it's blissfully sleeping occupants and walked into the family room. He opened the storm door and looked at the sky. It was a total overcast, and a mixture of rain and snow fell to the ground lightly. The cold wind hit him, making him shiver slightly and miss the cloak that he had left with Claire in the other room.

He stepped outside and lightly shut the door behind him. He paused before turning around. Something didn't feel right. He felt tense and it was the feeling that he got before the world ended and something was about to go wrong on his mission. He glanced around carefully, not entirely sure he trusted what his eyes were showing him. It was completely silent, and everything was still, aside from the light pitterpatter the rain made on the ground as it fell with the stark white snow.

He pulled his keys out of his pants pocket and opened the trunk, hurrying because he didn't want Claire or Alice waking up without him in the room. He leaned forward and picked up the bag of dog food and his knapsack, which was full of things for both Alice and Claire. It was the same black sack that Claire had when the camp was still up and running, which meant that it was enchanted to never get full. He shut the hatch, which was a bit noisier than he would have preferred, the sound echoing far beyond just the yard in the still air, walked back up the porch, and opened the door, letting himself back into the cold house.

He set everything down in the kitchen and saw, with a feeling of amusement, that Ace was walking up and sniffing at the bag of dog food, his tail wagging excitedly. Matt rolled his eyes and reached down into his bag to get the bowl. Ace's tail started moving at an even quicker pace. Matt grabbed the bag of food and poured it inside side the bowl, filling it above the brim. He watched humorously as Ace shoved him out of the way and slammed his face into the food forcefully. It hit the bowl so fast that a few pieces of the Kibbles and Bits flew out of the bowl and clattered onto the freezing tiled floor noisily.

Matt heard the most alien sound come out of his mouth: a laugh. It was small and quiet, but it felt strange. Very strange. Ace didn't seem to notice it, he was way too busy filling his face. He felt a tingling sensation on the back of his neck and turned around quickly. Claire had managed to get out of bed and was leaning against the wall beside the door smiling at him. She was wearing his grey cloak over the small dress he had found her in the day before. She was wrapping it around herself tightly for warmth, and she looked so frail.

"What are you doing up?" Matt asked, forgetting Ace and hurrying over to Claire. She rolled her eyes and he figured that he looked worried.

"I just wanted to get out of bed," she replied calmly. "Something about being in a tiny cell makes it hard to want to stay in one spot for too long." She looked him in the eyes and smiled. "I'm fine. Really."

Matt ignored her attempt at persuasion, way too used to it, and wrapped an arm around her waist, carrying ninety nine percent of her weight, he walked over to the couch and sat her down. Before she could protest, he walked back into the kitchen and picked his sack up from beside the now snoozing Ace, his stomach poked out slightly on each side, showing off that he'd eaten contentedly. He walked back over and pulled out a plastic bottle of water. Twisting the cap off, he handed it over to her. "Drink," he commanded.

She silently took the water and took a large gulp of it, sighing contentedly. "So much better than snow," she exclaimed quietly.

Matt smiled as he watched her down half of the bottle before offering it to him. He took a sip out of it before screwing the cap back on and placing it by her feet. Both of them tensed up when they heard crying from the other room. Matt turned around and walked toward the room, grabbing an upset Alice from her spot on the bed and bouncing slightly to get her to calm down.

**CLAIRE:**

She waited on the couch for Matt patiently, knowing that she would get told off and forced to rest if she got up to help. Alice stopped crying after a moment, but it was about five minutes before they both came out. She was dressed in a pink sweater and brown jogging pants to keep her warm. Matt had truly thought of everything.

"Diaper change," Matt explained as he took a seat next to Claire on the couch and began absentmindedly bouncing her up and down on his knee. She began making giggly noises and she saw the child's fingers clamp around one of the fingers on Matt's hand that was gripping her torso to help her stay up right. She felt herself smiling as she continued watching. He really was amazing with children.

Her eyes traveled up toward his face and saw the dark bags underneath his eyes. "How long has it been since you've slept?" she questioned sharply.

"Last night," he replied smoothly, not missing a beat as Alice let out a small shriek of laughter.

"Don't lie to me," Claire snapped. "You didn't sleep last night, and I'm willing to bet you haven't slept much in a while."

Matt looked away from Alice frowning at Claire slightly. "I'm fine," he said calmly.

"You need some sleep," Claire said. "You said yourself that we have a long drive, and you need to be alert."

"Don't do this now, Claire," Matt groaned.

The daughter of Hermes just rolled her eyes and said, "Just get some sleep!"

Matt's knee went still during their conversation and Alice was looking back at them, half of her fingers stuck in her mouth, drooling slightly over them. Her eyes were wide, and Claire figured she didn't like the tones that they were using.

"Sorry, sweetie," she said in her sweetest voice. "Everything's okay."

Alice smiled at her and pulled her hand out of her mouth, and clapped it together with her other, more dry, hand. Smiling again. She squirmed her way out of Matt's lap and plopped onto the floor, crawling over to where Ace was now standing beside the couch. She laughed as she patted his side.

Ace looked over at them as if saying, '_What did you give this kid?'_

Matt sighed and was about to get up when Claire placed a hand on his chest. He looked at her questioningly and she shook her head. "Leave her."

Ace laid down on the off white carpet and Alice sat on her butt, still patting the dog as if he was the most interesting thing in the world. Ace closed his eyes and a contented sound rumbled in his throat.

"I'll keep an eye on her," Claire promised.

Matt raised an eyebrow and said, "You can't honestly tell me that you think I'm going to let you chase her around in your condition."

"No," she replied. "I'm sitting right here, no chasing. Promise. You're gonna lay down on the couch and sleep. If she starts getting into something, I'll wake you up. I promise."

Matt looked skeptical about the idea, but Claire saw the bags and knew he needed it. She leaned over and wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him toward her. He hesitantly allowed her to guide him so that he was using her lap as a pillow and his feet were propped up on the arm rest. He looked up at her and sighed quietly. "I guess I could take a quick nap."

Claire absently ran a finger through his tangly hair and said, "You sure can. Now close your eyes and sleep."

Matt nodded and yawned, suddenly looking very vulnerable. His eyes closed and within seconds he was gone.

**MATT:**

He passed out quickly, sleep immediately overtaking him. In his dreams he found himself in a dark cavern. He heard the water dripping off the black rocks and the smell of death was in the air. He saw two gods standing in front of him. Ares and Hermes. Immediately he bowed, unsure of what else there was to do. As he looked up at the severely scarred god, his father, and the man who looked like he'd ran too long in a race, Hermes, he couldn't help but wonder if it was really just a dream.

"We're really here," Hermes assured him. "And we're the reason that you're even alive right now."

Matt regarded the man silently, his pride wounded slightly from the statement. "How so, my lord?"

"I didn't mean it like that," Hermes said after a moment, smiling apologetically at him. Matt always did hear about him being one of the nicest gods out there. "When you went to rescue Claire, there were hundreds of guards inside the establishment and more... creatures surrounding the camp's boarders, we removed the fortifications, depleting our power a great deal, and the zombies got in and finished off the guards."

Matt bowed again, "Thank you, lord Hermes, I... your daughter means a lot to me and I'm glad to have her back."

Hermes nodded and gave him a grim smile. "We didn't just help you because we like you, kid," Ares said gruffly, speaking up for the first time.

Feeling Ares' influence on him caused him to have a rising temper a bit faster than would have been normal. "I figured that," he remarked scathingly. "You guys never do anything out of the kindness of your hearts, even when you're stuck in hell." He crossed his arms and looked at Hermes again, admittedly favoring the messenger god over his father. "So what is it that you want in return, sire?"

"For right now," Hermes said, "get my daughter, and the child back to safety."

Matt's eyes narrowed. "Alice was your doing, wasn't she?"

Hermes raised an eyebrow in the perfect poker face. "Is that what you named her?"

Matt nodded mutely.

"Everything will be explained in due time," Ares said shortly. "You'll know what you need to know and that's it, punk."

Matt felt anger rise again, but swallowed it; he knew what would happen if he let it get the best of him. Hermes said what he needed to in a nicer way, "We don't want you flipping out under so much pressure. Just make it back to the colonies and we'll contact you from there."

Matt nodded curtly and the gods started fading.

His eyes snapped open, and he saw that his head was on the pillow of the couch and that Claire was nowhere to be seen. He sat up and his legs swung out and his feet hit the ground. He stood up immediately and looked around. Claire was in the kitchen, smiling down and Alice, who was giggling and playing with Ace.

Matt managed a smile as he watched them. Claire looked up at him and stood up to come and stand by him. "You look better," she observed.

"I feel better," Matt remarked. "But you shouldn't have let me sleep that long," he walked away from her and over to the window. Pulling back the blackout curtain that was hanging over it, he saw that the sun was rising.

"I slept for a day and a half?" he demanded, whirling around to look at Claire accusingly.

She smiled at him and said innocently, "Alice was an angel, and I've rested long enough," she walked up to him, stopping when their chests were almost touching, and looking up at him. "Besides, you never know when you're gonna need the energy."

As if the universe was trying to prove her right, their peaceful moment was abruptly cut off as the back of the door was busted down. Matt didn't miss a beat, going into mercenary mode, he scooped up Alice and pushed her into a startled Claire's arms. Cursing as he realized that his sword was in the bedroom, he pulled the knife off Claire's waist and yelled, "Get back and get my weapon!"

He heard the sound of retreating footsteps, and Matt walked forward toward the hallway, hoping to get there before anything came too far. He made it there and saw with a freezing feeling in his gut that six of the pale and crooked zombies were already closing in on the end of the hall. He wracked his brain for something to use, as he saw the knife holder on the counter right next to the hall. Lunging forward her grabbed the largest handle, and saw that it was long, thin, and looked incredibly sharp.

He flung it forward and it buried itself into the stomach of the nearest guy. It seemed to hurt him a bit, slowing him to a standstill; it only pissed his buddies off though. Five others rushed at him. Matt jumped back and slashed forward with his knife, decapitating one but before he could swing again, the one on his furthest right swung its claws toward him. Matt had to duck out of the way of the poisonous digits and backed up a step. He was halfway through the dark kitchen and he really didn't want to give up anymore ground, especially with Alice and Claire around somewhere.

He attacked again, his knife going down on the beast in front of him. He caught the knife with his claw, and Matt had to duck and roll to avoid being slashed open. His side hit the legs of the zombie to his left, causing it to fall forward, its shins were on top of Matt's side for a moment before the son of Ares came to his feet and impaled the closest monster with the blade, removing the head and causing the rest of it to just fall to the ground. A wet sound echoing through the air as it hit... disgusting.

The monster on the ground was rising again and the five remaining monsters (the one with the knife in his stomach seemed okay once he smelled the blood from Matt's nose bleed) ran toward him. Matt saw a claw coming toward his face and ducked out of the way, grabbing the creature's admittedly slimy wrist and twisting it around its back and digging them into its own flesh. Taking the flat of his foot, he kicked the beast forward into the crowd of four and it stumbled behind them, disappearing from his view completely.

He heard footsteps behind him and almost cursed, he looked behind him quickly and his extra worry melted, only to be replaced by a new one as Claire came to stand by him, her hands wrapped around his sword tightly.

"What are you doing?" Matt demanded, his knife flashing forward and blocking a swipe of one creature's claws while he and Claire ducked as another came from the other side, missing his exposed sword arm by a millimeter. Swearing violently, he straightened and elbowed the nearest zombie in an upward motion in its chin, being careful to evade it's sharp fangs. Its head snapped backward with an audible crack, immediately crumpling to the ground.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Claire dispatch one with a quick and unsuspected slash downward, chopping the unfeeling beast's swinging claw and then another slash to the side, severing it's neck. She managed it in the time that he brought his hand back from the blow he'd just taken the zombie out with. The nearest monster to him was the one with the knife protruding from a raggedy black t-shirt. Matt pulled the knife out of its stomach, nimbly dodging a pair of talons and slashing the kitchen utensil forward cutting an arc through its chest. No blood came out, but it did stumble back and fall to the ground, completely still.

He ran forward and broke the neck of the last monster that was causing a problem with Claire.

Matt just stood there for a moment breathing heavily as he looked around at their dead assailants. He leaned against the nearest surface, the stainless steal fridge. He leaned his now burning cheek against the cool surface and sighing slightly. He allowed himself one more deep breath before pushing away from the pleasant feeling surface and walking past a resting Claire and over to the bedroom. He put what little the trio had unpacked back into his knapsack and grabbed his cloak. He winked at a curious looking Alice before walking back. The bodies were slowly turning to dust in the kitchen where Claire was still standing.

He walked over and handed her the cloak. She took it absently, and Matt gripped her by a cold shoulder and turned her to face him. She looked up at him dazedly. "I think I over-exerted my energy," she sighed swaying slightly.

"Claire," Matt said slowly. "Sit down for a moment and put the cloak on. We've gotta go in a moment."

She blinked and looked at him confusedly for a moment. "Why? Its so nice here."

She was definitely out of it. "They travel in packs," Matt said as he walked her to the couch. "We just found one pack, there's bound to be another one around here coming soon."

"Oh," Claire murmured, clutching onto Matt's shirt as he helped her settle down on the couch. He cupped her face in his hand and made her look at him.

"I'll be right back. We've gotta leave. Now."

Claire nodded slowly and Matt let her go, running back into the bedroom and shouldering the bag. He picked Alice up from the small chair that she'd been obediently sitting in. Rushing back outside, he saw Claire drowsily waiting for him.

He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her up. She stumbled slightly but regained her footing. Shaking her head forcefully, she seemed to regain a tiny bit of her senses back and was able to walk on her own. They walked out of the door quickly and Matt saw with a reasonable amount of dread that they were so screwed.

The car was maybe ten feet from them and fifteen feet from that was a horde of twenty or so monsters. "Run," was the only thing Matt said before he and an adrenaline pushed Claire tore down the stairs with a yelping Ace at their heels. They all made it to the car with no time to spare. Matt got into the driving seat with Alice still in his arms as Claire and Ace both dove into the back. He started the car and zoomed forward, away from the beasts and toward the road where more zombies were, all of them looking at the car with completely white eyes, baring their fangs as of trying to convince Matt to stop and join them for lunch.

They made it to the main road and Matt felt Claire's hand on his shoulder. "Give me Alice," she said calmly.

Matt immediately complied, not wanting to put the baby in anymore danger than strictly necessary. Alice started crying once she was buckled into the carseat, showing off her immense displeasure. Feeling himself snap, something he hadn't done in years, he yelled, "For the love of the gods, Claire, shut her up!"

"Calm down," Claire snapped back. "Concentrate on driving!"

"I can't with that noise!" Matt argued.

"Stop yelling," Claire said sternly.

Matt looked in the rearview mirror and saw her glaring at him before she looked away and down at the whining baby. Matt remained silent and Claire tried consoling the baby. After a minuet, Alice quieted and the car turned completely silent for a moment. A second later, he felt a had on his bicep. His eye flickered down for a second to see Claire's sitting there. "Are you alright?" she murmured softly.

"Yes," Matt said, hating how curt his voice was. "But you're not. Now get some sleep before you pass out."

Claire immediately removed her hand and Matt felt slightly guilty, but he didn't say anything, the tense waves rolling off Claire told him that keeping quiet was probably the best option. So the three of them, and Ace, drove down the road in a not so comfortable silence.

**I hope you liked it! Technically I'm SUPPOSED to be working on "The Final Battle" right now, but this story is important to the now thickening plot of the other story, and I should have started this WAY sooner, but oh well, can't do anything about it now!**


	4. Chapter 4

**CLAIRE:**

Claire was absently rubbing the sleeve of her new long black jacket as Matt drove through the state of Colorado. It felt nice to have decent clothing on. Nothing like jeans, and a long sleeved shirt to make her feel warm and secure.

It had to have been eleven or so at night, there was no moon out and the sky was in an overcast, everything that wasn't lit up by the bright light of the car, a drop of water would land on the windshield every few seconds. Alice was out like a light, Claire had been walking around the store with the baby clinging onto her hand as she tried (and failed humorously) to walk beside her. Matt had been mostly quiet and withdrawn the whole day, not saying more then twenty words since he woke up that morning. It was normal for him to grow silent suddenly, so Claire wasn't worried by it, though it did feel a bit lonely when she had no one to talk to and didn't want to disturb Matt in his time of brooding.

Without thinking about it, she reached over and grabbed his large, tanned hand that was laying on the armrest, and pulled it into her lap. She intertwined their fingers together in one hand, feeling his wrap back around her firmly in response. She could feel the strength pulsing there and figured that he could have easily broken her bones if he wanted to, but he wouldn't. She never did find out exactly why he was so gentle with her. Distracting herself from the puzzling questions, she lightly trailed a thick and white scar that was fading on the top of his wrist all the way to the knuckle in the middle of his hand.

"How did you get this one?" she questioned, looking away from the old wound and up at him. She tapped it lightly before idly tracing it again.

Matt looked away from the road for a moment and down at her with a raised eyebrow, then his eyes flickered to his hand as if he needed to be reminded. He returned his gaze to the road and squeezed her hand lightly, which caused her heartrate to speed up slightly for some reason.

"That one hurt like hell," he said quietly, taking the calloused pad of his thumb and rubbing it in circles on the top of her hand, it was rough but comforting. "I was in Af-"

Before Matt could finish his sentence, there was an explosive sound of glass shattering. Somehow he driver's side window blew inward, a few shards hitting Claire, but most of them impaled Matt. He jerked on the wheel violently and swerved, causing Claire to shriek and hold on to the 'OS' handle for dear life.

The sound of stationary wheels skidding on a slick road was heard as Matt slammed on the breaks causing both of them to jerk forward. The only difference was that Matt didn't tense up and stop himself from faceplanting the dashboard. His head snapped forward and his forehead hit with a sickeningly loud thumping sound. Claire was halfway surprised that she could hear it over the sound of her own hammering heart.

Alice was up and crying, as her feet hit the plastic part of her carseat in a tandrum while Ace was scrambling on the floor of the car, whining in protest of being thrown around like a rag doll. Claire ignored both of them as she tried to force herself out of her shock. She looked at the son of Ares, who was hunched over, his hand covering a spot on the side of his chest as he groaned softly. She hadn't heard him express pain since they were in Hades, the though scared her because she knew there was something serious wrong with him.

"Matt," Claire said worriedly, she leaned forward and moved her cloak desperate to get a better view of what was causing so much trouble. Fear rose into her throat, nearly suffocating her as she saw blood dripping through his stiffened fingers which was covering up whatever wound that was crippling him.

"Help," he managed to say, his voice was shaky and breathless "Drive." He was shaking terribly, and she could tell that he was weakening by the second. Her mind flashed back to Hades when he had been cut by the kere, she had never felt so helpless.

"We can't drive with you like this," Claire said, trying to hide the worry in her voice. She didn't know what was wrong with him. As she spoke, she opened her door, and hopped out of the car. As soon as her feet hit the wet asphalt, she was running to the other side. As soon as she flung the door open, the damage was easy to survey, and none of it was reassuring. There was an arrow shaft sticking out of the side of his white shirt along with quite a few pieces of glass. The entire side of the shirt was dark red, completely soaked with blood. His face was cut up and bloodied as well, his normally tanned skin was starting to pale slightly and Claire immediately knew he was loosing too much blood and she also knew that she couldn't do very much in the middle of an interstate. Claire felt her insides freeze at the sight, and panic started building in her chest. He looked at her breathing harshly, and she didn't know what to say, she was terrified and he looked as though he was pretty scared too. Thankfully by this time Alice had calmed down and Ace was back on the seat, quiet as well, as if they both knew that Matt was in a seriously bad condition.

"We can't stay here, Claire," Matt said, his words sounded pained and husky as if talking was becoming an issue. "You drive before zombies come out."

Claire hesitated, before saying. "You're losing too much blood!" She pulled her shirt off, shivering as the cold air hit the tanktop she had under it. She pulled the seat back as far as it would go and made it so the drivers side was laying down.

"We can't stay-"

"We aren't!" Claire snapped, "but you can't stay like this, you'll bleed out!"

She grabbed the hem of his thermal shirt and pulled it up to show off the broken part of the arrow that was still in his side and all of the large chunks of glass. "Oh gods," she said shakily. "Matt."

"It isn't that bad," he insisted, his voice coated in pain.

"Shut up," Claire commanded and she began wrapping the long sleeves of the shirt around him, making an awkward bandage and it would hopefully apply enough pressure to the wound to stop it.

Matt grabbed her wrist as she finished tying the sleeve and she paused, just looking him in the eye. "You're gonna be alright."

"I'm never worried with you around," Matt remarked, his breathing labored slightly. She reached around and wrapped an arm carefully around him, but she still managed to touch one of his numerous wounds. He groaned from the pain.

"I am so sorry," she exclaimed.

"Don't worry about it," Matt managed breathing deeply. Claire helped him turn and stand up awkwardly. As they got out, it started raining for real and lightning flashed every few seconds. He was leaning heavily on Claire, inhaling sharply whenever he would move the wrong way. They made it to the front of the car, where the lights were still shining before Matt made the wrong move one too many times. He literally tripped over his own two feet and he went stumbling. Claire still wasn't one hundred percent from her imprisonment, so as she tried to steady him, they both went down on the hard ground,hitting hard. Thankfully Matt was on his uninjured side. He still groaned slightly though.

"Claire," he said breathlessly. "Claire, are you alright. You can't stay here. Go and get yourself and Alice to safety, the zombies won't be far behind and I don't want you being overrun by them."

"Shut up," Claire said, feeling the bruise, that was going to be there on her side in a few hours throbbing as she spoke. "You're gonna be fine."

She got to her feet and grabbed Matt by the upper part of his back and helped guide him into a sitting position.

"Where have I heard that before?" Matt asked weakly as she helped him, with great difficulty, stumble to his feet.

"Stop talking," was Claire's curt reply as she began helping him the rest of the way to the passenger's side. "you're gonna need your strength."

Once they got there, she helped set him in the car and he hissed as he bent down to get in. "I'm sorry," Claire mumbled.

"Get in the car," Matt growled. "Before something hits you!"

Claire nodded and backed up, slamming the passenger door. She jumped into the driver's seat, ignoring the icy glass that was cutting into the back of her legs.

She put the car into drive and shot down the road at top speed. She reached over and grabbed Matt's hand, which was slick with blood and gave it a squeeze. "We're gonna stop as soon as we can and get you fixed up."

"Not at night," Matt grunted.

Claire ignored the command and tried to tune out Ace's whimpering. Alice was still awake, her unintelligible sounds filling the car.

With the car's light set on bright, she saw a turn off and didn't hesitate in turning. She didn't slow down as they came up toward the town... until she saw figures standing out in the road, hundreds. She violently slammed her hand on the dashboard. Couldn't she get a break? They were gonna die because she was being cursed by whatever was in charge. That was when she got close enough to actually see what was in front of her. She slammed her foot on the breaks so that the car slammed to a halt six foot from the crowd. Matt lurched forward, but Claire got an arm wrapped around him quickly and he didn't get a chance to hit the dash. He groaned in pain, but Claire didn't get a chance to respond.

Before she could, a group of the people that were blocking her path ran forward and Matt's door was immediately.

"Get him to the infirmary!" a loud male voice ordered. A group of four people were there with a gurney, getting him out and wheeling him away.

"No!" Claire protested, jumping out and pulling out a dagger. She got to the first person who was pushing Matt and elbowed him in the side. "Leave him alone!"

Before she could do anything else, she was lifted off the ground by someone wrapping a large arm around her waist and pulling her away, she squirmed, kicking and yelling.

"Stop," a calm voice said in her ear, it was the same guy that was shouting a moment before. "We're gonna help him. Don't worry he's in good hands."

It took Claire a few seconds to stop fighting and she just hung limply in the air. The guy put her down and Claire turned around. He looked to be twenty or so with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was tanned and had surprisingly handsome facial features that she didn't associate with the look. He was looking at her with a soft sympathetic look. "You need to get your baby and take care of her. Your companion would probably want to know she was being looked after."

"She's not mine," Claire said automatically. "Matt... Matt found her after her mom was killed."

The guy put a hand on her shoulder and both of them walked back to the car, the crowd was thinning out and Claire was grateful, she tended to feel claustrophobic when she was stressed.

"Is that his name?" the guy asked, his voice was calming and she felt herself relaxing slightly, but that only made the uncertainty of Matt's condition harder to bear.

Claire nodded and opened the door. Alice looked upset and had her lip jutted out to express her displeasure. Ace was on the seat crouched over her, growling as he glared at the blonde boy beside her. "Ace," Claire reprimanded. "That's enough!"

The lab let out a small whimper and looked at her reproachfully. Claire glared at him once more and he whined a high pitched sound in the back of his throat. Claire unbuckled Alice from her restraints and picked her up. She curled her small hand in a fist in her shirt as she let out another unintelligible groan that babies randomly make.

"This is Ace," she gestured to the lab that was sitting poutingly at her feet, "and this is Alice."

"I'm Andrew," he said, a small smile on his face. "What's your name."

"Claire," she responded curtly as she closed the vehicle.

"Well, Claire," Andrew said, "give me your keys and I'll get rid of the car."

Claire looked at him questioningly. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'll go and park it," he said placatingly. "There's nothing to fear here. You're safe."

She handed him the keys and said, "I want to see Matt."

"They're probably operating on him. The arrow looked to be pretty deep in," Andrew said gravely. "They'll let me know when everything's fixed up."

"How do you know?" Claire snapped. "Are you some kind of doctor?"

"No," the guy responded, still as calm as ever. "But my father was a son of Apollo and my mother was a daughter of Aphrodite."

That explained his looks.

"Oh," Claire said quietly, looking at the ground.

She heard the sound of her keys being thrown and another hand catching them. Andrew put his hand on her shoulder yet again and said, "There're some rooms here that you can stay in."

She felt her chin being pulled up so that she could look him in the eyes. "You need some rest, because tomorrow, you're gonna meet our leader."

"Look, buddy," Claire protested, slapping his hand away, "I'm not the diplomatic type. I don't know about meeting leader."

"He's a nice guy," Andrew shrugged. "A bit old fashioned, but nice."

He gestured for her to follow him and not sure what else to do, she complied. It turned out that the outskirts of town was the only spot that was dark. Torches were glowing, albeit dimly, but much brighter than Claire would have had the guts to shine anything in a section of the country that was so filled with zombies and other creatures of darkness.

People were wearing white dresses and clothing, the older Roman style if Claire wasn't mistaken. Most of the buildings were huge, larger than what she remembered, and everything was made out of, "Cement," she said quietly before she looked up at Andrew questioningly, "Why is everything made out of cement?"

"Our leader is the Roman type," Andrew shrugged. "His master made them for him in exchange for his worship and servitude."

Claire nodded absently, it made sense, but something about it didn't feel right. Andrew stopped in front of a large building, she saw torches flickering in the open windows. The walkway was open save for the single guard standing on the outside of the door in full armor, a spear was at his side, and he looked at Claire with a bit too much admiration for her comfort.

Andrew walked forward and Claire followed, gripping Alice a bit more firmly and felt a bit more relieved as she felt Ace's fur against the back of her leg. It was just one white hallway with rooms lining it, almost like a fancy hotel. They got to a large flight of stairs and he walked up them, Claire slowly following. Ace started whimpering again, and the noise was making Claire feel slightly uneasy.

For the sake of her own sanity, she turned slightly and silenced the lab with a stern look. When she turned back around, she literally rammed into Andrew and stumbled back slightly, tensing as she prepared to fall back down the stairs. Before she could, she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her and she was pulled against a warm chest. "Might want to be careful, _pulchra_."

Claire nodded shakily, not entirely sure what the last word that he said meant, but at the moment she honestly didn't care. He'd saved her.

"Th-thank you," she stuttered, just realizing that she was leaning against him awkwardly. She took a step back and saw that Alice was looking at her strangely. Claire managed a strained smile at the baby and Andrew gestured toward the door that he was in front of. It read 306. "I'll come and get you at six tomorrow morning so you can see your friend. Get some sleep."

Claire suddenly felt exhausted, as if everything that had happened to her since the beginning of the hell on earth had waited until that very moment to hit her. She nodded tiredly and took a deep breath managing to breathe a faint, "Good night," before shutting the door.

Barely managing to scrape up enough strength to hold onto Alice, she stumbled to the bed and set her down on the far side. Not being able to fight it off any more, she collapsed, the side of her head hitting the metal railing of the bed before she hit the floor completely gone.

**Dramatic! Lol, anyone have a clue what's going on? What do you think of the town and Andrew? And I know you guys are just going to adore the leader!**

**Oh, and **_**pulchra **_**means Beautiful.**


End file.
